New Blog

The Canine Club and Spa where Sailor goes for doggy day care just started a blog. Their very first photos and entry is about Sailor (cause he's so cute!). They posted these 2 photos of him swimming with his buddies.

If you want to check it out and even follow along, it is: http://www.thecanineclubblog.blogspot.com/

BFF

It's so great that Sailor can play with other Newfies at doggy day care. This is Noah, an 11 month old Newfie and Sailor's "best friend forever". They swim and play together. He's not there every day, but Todd finally saw him on Friday morning and shares the encounter.

"Lee, Noah's dad, was dropping him off at the Canine Club at the same time I was. When I was getting Sailor out of the back of the car, I heard someone yelling, "Is that Sailor?" It seems the same way we know that Noah is his buddy, they've heard of Sailor. Noah came bounding over and they broke out in spontaneous play. It was so cute and sweet, like a couple of buddies who really like each other. Noah looks to be about 110 pounds or so and about 6 inches taller than Sailor, so I could see what Sailor will look like in August!

I also remember Karen at Canine Club telling me how cute they play and that once they were both laying on the floor like big lazy Newfies, but pushing each other with their legs in a playful way."

From the picture, I can tell that Noah has some white on him. like the "Landseer" Newfies. According to Wikipedia, the Landseer is named after the artist Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, who featured them in many of his paintings. The AKC, CKC, and KC all treat Landseer Newfies as part of the breed and others consider it only a Newfoundland color variation.

Showering with Todd

Every morning when Todd gets up, Sailor goes outside, then he comes in the bathroom and lays next to the shower with Todd. It's so sweet! After the shower, Sailor gets his breakfast. He definitely has his routine.

Water Bowl

Sailor is a very messy drinker. He loves to put his paws in the water bowl and swish all the water around. I don't let him get away with it in the house, but this is what he does out on the deck. After playing around and spilling all the water, he then passes out next to the dish. So much fun and so much work!

Home for Life

Todd and I attended a charity brunch on Sunday, April 26th for Home for Life Animal Sanctuary called "Tiramisu for Tails". It is so heartwarming to see what Lisa LaVerdiere and her staff have done for animals who are not adoptable for various reasons such as disabilities, but are still happy and able to live a full life. We do a few events with this organization every year and just love the animals and all the people involved with it. The dog sledding trip was something that we purchased at their gala in October where they had John Grobin (who wrote "Marley and Me"). Thought I would share these photos with you from the brunch as we are very lucky to have healthy pets compared to what some of these animals have gone thru. For more information on Home for Life, go to http://www.homeforlife.org/.

Sven Sundgaard is a local Weatherman in the Twin Cities and he is a supporter of the organization. He was at our table, so we took a couple of snaps with him and one of the dogs, Sebastian who is unable to process proteins. He has to have a special diet and is so sweet and loving and loves to be held. Tiger couldn't walk due to malnutrition from being starved (Home for Life fixed his legs with surgery) and the Great Dane is partially blind. These were just a few of the wonderful animals that live at Home for Life in Stillwater.

Yard Work

Hello Friends. Thanks for sticking with my blog. I have not updated much this week due to our Vikings Draft Party which is on Saturday, and a lot of other work things that are going on. Sailor turned 7 months old today and I haven't even had time to take a birthday picture of him. As of last Saturday, he was 83 1/2 lbs! He is up to my thigh now. Weigh in is tomorrow at Intermediate Puppy School so we won't be surprised if he is up to 85 or 86 lbs.

He was off and on a good/bad boy this week. Last night he got one of my fav pillows before we noticed and chewed it up. It was turquoise and had an orange and purple flower on it. Unsalvageable! He whined in his crate all night on Sunday night so I had a rough day on Monday with no sleep. Other than that, torturing the cat and still trying to annoy Osa, he's a sweet boy :).

Also, he "helped" Todd with some yard work last weekend by chasing squirrels away, running off into the neighbors yards to see how their lawns were doing, eating sticks to make mulch, making fertilizer, watering the lawn and chewing on the equipment.

Swimingly

Sailor loves to swim (at least in the indoor pool at Day Care!). Karen said that they couldn't get him to come out and that he likes swimming with his buddy Noah, who is actually another Newfoundland. Todd is worried that when he starts to swim in the lake that he'll get too far from shore and then get in trouble. He wants to wait until we get the boat in the water in case we have to go get him. Is that overprotective or a good idea? Not sure as we've never had a dog that can swim before so I will just go along with that theory!

Classmates

We took Osa to Sailor's intermediate training last week as a "special guest" as we feel bad leaving her home every Saturday morning. She seemed to have fun but she really wasn't sure what it was all about.

We have the same trainer, Libby (pictured in the blue shirt) and also some of the same dogs in class as were in his puppy pre-school. Leigh, her husband Dave, and their dog, a Great Dane named Pony for one. Pony is like Sailor- she gains a few pounds a week and is going to be huge. She's also a very sweet dog and her owners are cool too (like us - ha).

Docking

We got the dock in the water (thank you "Boys of Summer!) and walked out on it with Osa and Sailor thinking that Sailor would maybe jump in and swim a little but he didn't this time. Osa won't swim although she loves going on a boat ride (we have thrown her in though to make sure she can).

Then here comes Mia, the cat (who thinks she's either a people or a dog) to join us. 81 lb Sailor, 54 lb Osa and little 5 lb Mia and us all together - different species and all so harmonious - it was so touching. It was also a peaceful day and no one was really around, so there are all five of us just hanging out on the dock enjoying the sunshine on a Sunday afternoon. Ahh Spring!

Canine Club

This is the place where Sailor goes to Day Care - The Canine Club and Spa. It's only about 1 mile (or less) from our house, so very convenient and the price is right. The owner, Karen, said that Sailor is one of their "Superstars". They have an indoor and outdoor play area and pool so he gets to have lots of fun and get socialized with the other dogs as well. If we didn't take him there, he would drive us crazy at night and we would also feel bad leaving him in his crate all day.